Sarah vs The Last Dance
by Ultrawoman
Summary: One-Shot, post-2x21 Chuck vs the Colonel. At the Woodcombe-Bartowski rehearsal dinner, Sarah is given a new mission... which involves being nice to Casey? SarahCasey friendship.


**A/N: This was bouncing around in my head a while, just begging to be written, so here it is. Something a little different...**

_**Disclaimer: Chuck and all its recognisable characters belong to Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, and other important people that aren't me.**_

The Last Dance

Spies were given all kinds of missions and as a general rule they carried out their orders to the letter without question or rebuttal of any kind. That didn't mean they always agreed with decisions made or liked the things they were told they must do. In this instance, Sarah Walker would have rather done anything than follow the orders given but it really wasn't worth the consequences if she refused.

Of course, this wasn't a mission from her current boss, but a tipsy stressed-out bride was perhaps even scarier than Beckman could ever be. Here at the rehearsal dinner for what was set to be the wedding of the year, at least to the Bartowskis, Ellie was boss and whatever she said had to happen. This was how Chuck had been coerced into to dancing with poor lonely Great Aunt Lucy, and how Sarah had come to confront this particular battle she now faced.

"_Look at him there, all alone" _Ellie's words rang in her ears as she crossed the room,_ "Always so lonely... Sarah! Sarah! You go dance with him!"_

"Um, Casey?" she said awkwardly, catching the attention of her partner who was sat alone at a side table, scanning the crowd and looking bored as he sipped a beer and took a well-deserved evening off.

"What's going on, Walker?" he asked her, ever suspicious and apparently alert enough to be ready for action should something bad have arisen.

"Nothing, there's no problem" she assured him, talking awkwardly through an overly-much fake smile, "Ellie and Awesome are watching us" she told him, "They wanted me to come over here and ask you to dance" she told him, holding out her hand and expecting him to take it - unsurprisingly, he didn't.

"I don't dance" he said in flat refusal, but as Sarah glanced back at the bride-to-be and her Awesome husband-to-be, she knew that wasn't going to be good enough.

"Casey, please" she urged him, gritting her teeth, fake smile wavering just slightly, "Could you please just do this?"

He thought about making a scene, but Casey knew it wasn't worth it. Drawing attention to himself right now was the last thing he wanted and it wasn't as if he didn't know how to dance.

"Whatever" he muttered finally taking Sarah's offered hand and heading out onto the dance floor with her.

Out of the corner of their eyes, both agents saw the grin on Devon's face and the joyously childish clapping of a somewhat drunk Ellie.

"Hey, Walker" Casey stopped her moving just seconds after they started, "I'm not Bartowski. How about you let a man lead for a change?" he told her as she nodded once in agreement and they started over with their waltzing.

"Wow" she remarked as they moved around the floor, "I had no idea you were such a good dancer, Casey" she said with evident surprise.

"Just 'cause I don't look like pretty boy Larkin doesn't mean I can't dance" he said, with an edge to his voice that was almost too defensive.

Sarah thought about starting an argument but for more than one reason she changed her mind. This really wasn't the time or place for any kind of fight and besides it was really the last thing she wanted to do on such an occasion.

"It's so weird to think this will all be over soon" she said thoughtfully, the mention of Bryce reminding her of her new mission, due to start directly after the wedding.

"Don't go gettin' sentimental on me, Walker" Casey warned her, though she was almost certain that hint of a smile when she looked at him meant he felt just a little nostalgic himself tonight.

In two years they had been through so much together. They'd become friends but in the weirdest of ways, since just the day before they'd stood eye-to-eye and toe-to-toe, guns trained on each other, threats being thrown.

"Working with you has certainly been an experience, _Colonel_ Casey" she said with a half smile as she addressed him by his newly earnt title.

"Can't say you didn't make things interesting yourself, Walker" he told her in a similar way.

They shared an odd smile then, one that almost had Chuck worried when he saw it. He was pretty sure Sarah could never like Casey, not in any real way, and yet they had certainly bonded during their time with him as Team Bartowski. It had to be weird for them, spending so much time in close quarters, watching each others backs. Now they had to part ways, not knowing if they would ever see each other again...

"You tell the kid yet that you're leaving tomorrow night?" asked Casey as he very deliberately spun Sarah out of Chuck's eyeline and earshot both.

"No" she admitted, feeling awfully guilty just thinking about how much she would doubtless hurt the guy with her news, "When do you leave?" she checked, preferring any topic of conversation over this one.

"First thing tomorrow, early. You won't see me after tonight" he told her, though neither of them were really sure why it mattered.

As the music died down and finally ended, it seemed Casey and Sarah's last dance was over, in more ways than one.

"Take care, John" she said genuinely, as she pushed herself into his arms and hugged him for a just a few seconds.

Awkward at first, Casey soon hugged her back, unable to be his usual angry self in this particular moment.

"You too, Sarah" he told her, almost shocking her into letting go of him sooner than intended.

They parted just as Chuck escaped the clutches of his aunt and approached them with a questioning look on his face.

"I'm done here" said Casey abruptly turning to leave.

Sarah stared after him a moment, as Chuck in turn gazed at her.

"What was all that about?" he asked, forcing a smile even though he felt entirely weird about the oddly friendly scene he had just witnessed between his two handlers.

"Just... saying goodbye to a friend" came Sarah's answer - she was perhaps more shocked than Chuck to realise she meant every word.

- The End -

**A/N2: I'd love some feedback on this please! Also, anyone hoping for a sequel to my previous Chuck fic 'Chuck vs the Trouble Shooter', it is on its way, I'm just busy right now. I hope you understand :-)**


End file.
